GT beat RR by 77 runs on May 9, and the scoreline barely covers what happened. Gujarat Titans walked into Sawai Mansingh Stadium chasing a fourth straight win. They walked out second on the IPL 2026 points table, level with SRH on 14 points, and carrying the kind of Net Run Rate cushion that decides playoff tiebreakers.
That’s the surface story. The deeper one is happening to Rajasthan Royals.
A 229 That Wasn’t About the Total
Shubman Gill’s 84 off 44 balls — his 30th IPL fifty — was the kind of captain’s innings that wins matches before the chase begins. Sai Sudharsan added 55, backing up Sai Sudharsan’s century against RCB with another measured knock. Washington Sundar’s late cameo pushed GT to 229/4, their season-high total.
The number that actually mattered, though, came in the first over of RR’s reply. 15-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi hit the first ball he faced — Mohammed Siraj — for six, becoming the youngest player ever to reach 100 T20 sixes and setting a new IPL powerplay record in the same delivery. It’s the kind of season he keeps having while his team loses.
Then Rashid Khan came on.
Rashid’s Comeback Arrived in 24 Balls
4/33 in four overs. His first four-wicket haul of IPL 2026 — and, by every reading from the press box, a return to his “magical best.” RR went from chasing to surviving to all out: 152 in 18.3 overs.
The 77-run defeat carried a price RR can’t easily pay. They dropped from fourth to fifth — outside the playoff qualification zone — with PBKS, RCB, and KKR closing in — KKR reeled off four straight wins of their own after starting 0-5. Yashasvi Jaiswal, captaining for the first time after Riyan Parag pulled a hamstring, was left explaining a thrashing in his very first outing as skipper.
His post-match comment ran three words before he stopped: “We are going to…”
The Playoff Math Just Got Tighter
GT’s win opens a structural gap. SRH still lead — same 14 points, better NRR — but the chasing pack is now trailing by two and falling. PBKS, RCB, and RR are stacked at 12. One slip, and the fifth team in that group misses the playoffs entirely. The qualification math is unforgiving from here.
Gujarat Titans’ fourth consecutive win — this 77-run demolition of RR — has Gill and Rashid Khan looking like the most dangerous combo in IPL 2026. They haven’t peaked this hard since winning the title in 2022.
The win was a result. The points table is the warning.